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Environmental News

By: Henry LazenbyUpdated 1 hour 20 minutes ago
British Columbia is ‘ground zero’ for mining in Canada, as technological advances require an ever-increasing volume of metals to satisfy improving standards of living and environment-friendly technologies.
This was the key message attendees at the fourth annual Resource Breakfast Series heard on... →

By: Reuters26th September 2017
Brazil will reinstate a mining ban in a vast area of the Amazon rainforest, the government announced on Monday, in an about-face that is a victory for environmentalists who feared deforestation.
The Mines and Energy Ministry said in a statement that President Michel Temer's administration had... →

By: Reuters25th September 2017
China's mining industry will shrink if the government does not cut it some slack in return for compliance with strict environmental policies, the head of one of the country's largest gold miners said on Saturday.
"We don't have friendly policies in this industry," Chen Jinghe, chairperson of... →

By: Reuters25th September 2017
As far as China's miners are concerned, the modern-day Silk Road is paved with gold.
Buoyed by a 15% rise in the gold price this year, Chinese mining executives in Tianjin this weekend were talking up their ambitions for overseas expansion. →

By: Simone Liedtke22nd September 2017
With platinum being one of the most effective and durable catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology (PEMFC), fuel cell and electrolyser technology developer Isondo Precious Metals (IPM) CEO Vinay Somera believes that this presents an opportunity for the South African platinum... →

Photo by Duane Daws
VINAY SOMERA
The drive to zero emissions also represent the “single biggest opportunity” for the industry

By: Simone Liedtke22nd September 2017
To increase demand in the fuel cell (FC) industry, platinum group metals producer Impala Platinum (Implats) aims to take its Impala Platinum Refinery off the State-owned power utility Eskom grid and power the refinery using FC technology, with commercial operation of its first phase aimed to... →

FAHMIDA SMITH
The development of the 8 MW fuel cell is an exciting development in Implats’ move towards a carbon-neutral fuel source at its refinery

By: Simone Liedtke22nd September 2017
As a means of promoting beneficiation, South African Chamber of Mines (CoM) administration head Jeannette Hofsajer says the platinum-based fuel cell installed at its offices is just the start in a potentially vast surge in demand for fuel cell units, which would positively impact on the platinum... →

FACING RESISTANCE
Using fuel cells to replace petrol and diesel power is facing consumer resistance

By: Nica Schreuder22nd September 2017
Owing to the possible presence of hazardous methane gas during coal mining, it is common practice to monitor methane levels at operational mining sections. As such, mining monitoring systems company Monitech’s Hazardous Area Control System was introduced to coal mining fifteen years ago and it... →

By: Henry Lazenby18th September 2017
Fraud is a significant burden on the mining industry and is likely to cost companies an average of 5.85% of turnover every year. Therefore, catching it before it happens is often the best weapon to combat this scourge. This figure is based on 20 years of data across more than 40 sectors,... →

15th September 2017
While the majority of the mining industry use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in its refrigerant systems, these ozone-depleting substances are set to be phased-out in accordance with the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Agreement. →

By: Mia Breytenbach15th September 2017
TSX-V-listed Volcanic Gold Mines plans to drill within the significantly expanded mineralized footprint defined by air-core drilling adjacent to the inferred mineral resource at its Mandiana gold project, with a view to a resource increase and is actively orientating its exploration programme... →

By: Simone Liedtke15th September 2017
Industrial solutions provider RTS Africa Engineering (RTS) states that air compressors used in the mining industry – including in Zambia – are, for the most part, well-proven, reliable pieces of equipment that can operate for years with relatively little maintenance. →

EFFECTIVE SUPPLY
The use of a spin filter is a truly effective means of feeding clean air at ambient temperatures

By: Ilan Solomons15th September 2017
The recent spike in fatalities at South African mines, with the most recent occurring at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine, near Carletonville, should serve as a timely reminder to the mining industry that a significant step change in health and safety practices is needed to ensure the goal of zero... →

Photo by Creamer Media image
MTHOKOZISI ZONDI Despite the decrease in fatalities and injuries at mines in recent years, a lot more needs to be done to ensure the ending of injuries and fatalities at mines

15th September 2017
Peristaltic pumps use less water, with traditional centrifugal pumps losing efficiency when the slurry has a specific gravity (SG) of 1.3, or 30% solids, or more. Peristaltic pumps can efficiently circulate slurry with SGs of up to 1.6 to 1.8, or up to 80% solid content. Pumps supplier Verder... →

SAVE ON WATER
On a plant processing slurry at 75 t/h with 65% solids, every time a peristaltic pump replaces a process slurry pump, more than 1 100-million litres of water is saved every year

By: Simone Liedtke15th September 2017
Randburg-based industrial equipment supplier Verder Pumps’ Verderflex (VF) 125 peristaltic pump is in operation at mining company Kansanshi Mining’s Zambia-based Kansanshi copper mine and is undergoing testing at two other Zambian mines, as well as mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.... →

VERDERFLEX 125
The peristaltic pump is in operation at the Kansanshi copper mine

By: Ilan Solomons15th September 2017
Analysts are hopeful that recent regulations promulgated by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) will assist in overcoming the long delays in securing water use licence authorisations (WULAs) and allow more streamlined implementation of projects. WULAs are required by a range of water... →

Photo by Duane Daws
ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENTS The new regulations are a positive step that aligns the timelines for WULAs with the application for an environmental authorisation

15th September 2017
Educational institution Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) will host the second Copper Cobalt Africa Conference at the Avani Victoria Falls Resort, in Livingstone, Zambia, in July next year. →

Photo by Bloomberg
INDUSTRY REVIVAL
The African Copperbelt is again experiencing a resurgence of activity following the commodity downturn of recent years

By: Victor Moolman15th September 2017
Although ultrahigh-pressure water blasting systems used to clean refineries or cut rock and prepare surfaces on mines will not save water, it is more efficient than using acid washing or abrasive grit blasting techniques, says water jetting solutions provider Total Blasting sales director Bradley... →

By: Henry Lazenby13th September 2017
Canadian gold producer Eldorado Gold confirmed on Wednesday that it has received the Olympias operating permit and the modified electromechanical installation permit for the tailings management facility at Kokkinolakkas, from the Greek Ministry of Energy and Environment.
The permits were issued... →

By: Martin Creamer12th September 2017
Surface gold mining company DRDGold, the oldest company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with more experience than any other mining company in the recovery of gold from tailings dumps, believes that the time may have arrived for the transplanting of its remarkable expertise to other... →

DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius tells Mining Weekly Online’s Martin Creamer that the time for tailings collaboration has never been more opportune. Video and Video Editing: Darlene Creamer.

By: Henry Lazenby11th September 2017
Canadian gold producer Centerra Gold and the Kyrgyzstan government have reached a wide-ranging settlement agreement that resolves a years-long legal standoff, the company announced on Monday.
The agreement, first rumoured by the media on Thursday, pushed Centerra’s Toronto-listed stock up 4.2%... →

By: Henry Lazenby9th September 2017
While the effects of Hurricane Harvey are still progressing downstream in the US oil and gas supply chain, progressing towards consumers, Hurricane Irma is threatening the US with another potential blow, with parts of the country already seeing a disruption of energy and chemical product... →

By: Henry Lazenby9th September 2017
With a bird in hand, Canadian project developer Fortune Minerals is considering to up the ante for its flagship Nico cobalt/gold/bismuth/copper project, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The London, Ontario-based company late last month announced that its update of the 2014 feasibility study for... →

By: Reuters8th September 2017
Cuba has begun to shut down its nickel industry in preparation for Hurricane Irma, state-run television said on Thursday. One of two processing plants, the state-owned Ernesto Che Guevara, was closed, and the second, a joint venture with Canadian miner Sherritt International Corporation, was... →

7th September 2017
DRDGold says it has spent more money on vegetating tailings dams than it has paid dividends to shareholders in the last ten years and is seeing its dump vegetation effort going up in smoke. Mining Weekly editor Martin Creamer speaks to Creamer Media's Sashnee Moodley about the challenges. →

By: Henry Lazenby6th September 2017
A small Vancouver-based start-up company has created a new environment-friendly chemical process with the potential to disruptively transform metal extraction in the mining and electronic waste (e-waste) sectors, akin to the application of cyanide for gold extraction, which revolutionised the... →

EnviroLeach expects to capitalise on recovering metals from e-waste – the fastest growing portion of municipal waste expected to grow to 50-million tons by 2020

By: Martin Creamer6th September 2017
Acid mine drainage (AMD), which is water that has been polluted as a result of mining activity, is being used to relieve the cost burden of the large volume of water needed to recover gold from mine dump material, as well as lower the demand placed on scarce drinking water. Surface mining company... →

By: Martin Creamer5th September 2017
Surface mining company DRDGold, which has spent more money on vegetating tailings dams in the last ten years than it has paid dividends to shareholders, is seeing its dump vegetation effort going up in smoke at the same time as it comes under criticism from a leading nongovernmental organisation... →

By: Reuters5th September 2017
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he agreed with banning open-pit mining in the Southeast Asian nation given the environmental harm it causes. He said he had asked Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu "to look into the eventual closure of openpit mining." →

By: Ilan Solomons1st September 2017
The recent spike in fatalities at South African mines, with the most recent occurring at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine, near Carletonville, should serve as a timely reminder to the mining industry that a significant step change in health and safety practices is needed to ensure the goal of zero... →

By: Reuters1st September 2017
Brazil's government said late on Thursday it would suspend action on a decree opening a vast section of the Amazon rainforest to mining, backtracking in the face of activist criticism and a legal challenge. The mining ministry said in a statement that, after consulting with President Michel... →

By: Ilan Solomons1st September 2017
The Council for Geoscience (CGS) has appointed Mosa Mabuza as its new CEO. The position was previously held by Simon Sikhosana until his retirement in November 2016. Mabuza was subsequently seconded to the CGS by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to act as its interim CEO until the... →

By: Dylan Slater1st September 2017
As the mining industry winds down from the supercycle, thereby also coming under increasingly constrained budgets as markets tighten up and commodity prices fall, more mines are closing and, subsequently, the need for their rehabilitation is coming to the fore. →